baguio spells food tripping too!

the family recently went up to baguio. the plan was to have no plans. literally. plans like that always work out quite perfectly. no hassle or pressure. just plain i'll-drive-up-to-baguio-and-do-nothing. welcome to our family. we like burning up gasoline that way. but then again, manila heat is just plain unbearable these days that random trips to relatively cooler places, despite being 400kms away, are always worth it. i got wasted the previous night so i hardly felt the trip up. but that's another story.

since we didn't have any plans at all, and since we stayed in the country club, we had ourselves a weekend full of food tripping. in all fairness to their dining place, everything tasted really good! i'm not gonna go all food connoisseur on you about their gastronomic goodies 'cos i'm not. i have a relatively simple palette. simple enough that baguio country club food made me happy. either that or i was really just in the mood for some good ol' pigging out.

cy ended up being tucked in his bag almost the entire time actually. i only got to pull him out during our last lunch. these were all i got.

they plated heart attack cubes. kick-ass ones, at that.

kalderetang beef had olives. they glam food up that way.

pakbet with pieces of fried liempo and an entire half of bangus. the vegetables hardly stood out.

kare kare. nothing special there.

for some strange reason, we were all hungry the entire time we were there. all that tv-ing and malling probably starved us. it makes sense right?

this baguio trip was epic. the food was epic.

off to Mansy's to nurse a headache.

there are just some days that plans are rendered completely useless. and if you think about it actually, the more you force it, the more it fails. spontaneity is the ultimate key. it does wonders beyond comprehension. and of course, spontaneity's never complete without mansanas.

a couple of saturdays ago, i planned to have one whole completely plan-less day. and i was aiming to keep it that way. my brain has been scattered all over the place the past few weeks and all i needed was to just chill at home and watch some mindless tv. so i played badminton in the morning but was suddenly hit by a spur-of-the-moment spontaneity. i texted a few people but when i got to the condo, i retired to bed almost instantaneously. after shower, of course. i woke up 4pm already and read about five messages from mansy. apparently, she had a headache and needed people to nurse it. as if i fit the job. but the prospect of bumming around in someone else's place is always inviting. so i was off to their place.

on my way, i picked me up my own surprise. leo's always a surprise. he's a fun toy to have around. haha! 

the look that's obviously beckoning for some serious headache-caring.

leo, our toy for the night.

"love is forever". yeah right.

we stayed in her room a good 95 percent of the time. the room was fascinating enough to keep us entertained. plus all the little knick knacks lying around everywhere to tinker with. mansy's room screams entertain-yourself. well, that's always been the foundation of our friendship anyway. mind yourself because no one else will. hahaha! talk about invidualism. i'm amazed she's not single. that woman. pssh. haha!

of course carte postale had to be part of the night.

rummaging through the finished goods.

we were offered snacks. aka peanut lollipops.

"you think they'll like this?"

the pile of........... postcards. it's not trash. not trash, i tell you.

the take-my-candid-picture shot. because we're casual and natural that way.

because i'm the guest, i'm obliged to bring the DVD player we'll use to watch movies for the night. it's just your everyday practical house etiquette in action. nothing odd there.

carte postale in action. this is where your Php25.00 goes. save a girl from starvation.

because i'm the guest, i'm obliged to bring the DVD player we'll use to watch movies for the night. it's just your everyday practical house etiquette in action. nothing odd there.

paintings are usually left leaning against the walls. that's how mansy rolls.

paintings are usually left leaning against the walls. that's how mansy rolls.

i try my flexibility. i sort of failed.

"it could be worse."

and so we were all starving. the house didn't have stuff to eat. i heard the helpers were on their way home to the province or something. i never really understand how things worked in mansy's place. but it rocked! because they let deliveries from ken-afford in. and so anything from ken-afford is always gladly welcome. fond college memories, here we come.

we had quite a spread.

it wouldn't have been complete without stuffed pork chop. it used to be our staple lunch.

being the short-attention-span-ed people that we are, we got bored pretty easily. and well, we have mild cases of ADD too. so i wouldn't be surprised with our constant compulsion to move and be all jittery. i don't know about leo but i'm pretty sure mansy and i share the same abnormality.

so what to do at ten in the evening? go biking around the village!

the walk up the hill was worth the fifteen second gush of wind on our way down. fifteen minutes of hard labor for fifteen seconds of happiness. story of our lives.

there was a strawberry shake somewhere in the night. it remained unphotographed. too bad for my frozen strawberries, they don't get documented. they served being refreshments pretty well right after we got ourselves parched from biking. you will be sorely missed beloved frozen strawberries.

it would've been a shame not to use the player i shamelessly dragged to her place. so we had to do the obligatory watch-random-DVDs part of the night.

jay. a lot like love.

that night was fun. i wish mansy gets headaches more often than usual.

i miss spontaneity already.

P&G does yoga.

work is insane. that's a fact. but sometimes, all we need is an outlet of all the stress we get pent up from all the days' work. what better way to do so than contorting your body to mind-twisting positions for a good hour so, right?

i don't consider myself a photographer really. right now, i see it more as a hobby i'm still trying my hand in. but about a month ago, i got invited by a friend in the office to go take pictures of the wellness circle for yoga that she founded. well, i think she founded it. lol. i was a bit apprehensive because i didn't know exactly what she was looking for in the shots. and i didn't want to not deliver. besides, there were more than a handful of other photographer-esque people around. ANYWAY. insecurities aside, i said yes to it.

so off to P&G yoga i was that late afternoon.

the view outside the corner in the trading room i was squatting in.

mish. diane. jirbie.

mish was nice enough to go accompany me that night. it probably would've been suffocatingly awkward if i stayed there without her.

rianna my yoga-founder friend. i don't think i've thanked her enough for inviting me over.

i've always secretly thought that yoga was for sissies. i mean, who would've thought that twisting and contorting would actually give you a full-body work out right? i sort of had a hard time taking good pictures of them 'cos they were constantly moving and bending but not breaking (okay, that was unforgivably corny). i had to have my face almost close to the floor just so i can take nice pictures. either that or i just like the drama of looking all photographer-like. hahaha!

jirbie.

the yoga teacher was really funny. she kept making references to me while changing positions. almost made me conscious, actually. good thing i got to shrug it off. she was funny anyway. and diane thinks she's hot. i happen to think she's just fit. and very flexible. very very flexible.

the yoga teacher.

the butt shot to lure the boys into taking the class.

lisette.

diane going all bendy on us.

sassy!

about an hour later and the class ended. i've to say i was more than happy getting the chance to photograph something like it. i still think it would've been better if they do their classes in a much more photograph-friendly area. the pictures probably would've turned out better if there weren't chairs and fans in the background. the pics turned out okay anyway.

this just might make me try yoga out. :)